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Ella se sintió triste porque fue su culpa y lloró.

Ella se sintió triste porque fue su culpa y lloró.
She felt sad because it was her fault and cried.
From Lesson 141:Preterite stem changes e to i (pidió, sintió)·Spanish (Spain)

Questions & Answers about Ella se sintió triste porque fue su culpa y lloró.

Why is it spelled sintió with an "i" instead of "sentió"?
The verb is sentir. In the preterite (past) tense, some verbs that end in -ir have a stem change where the "e" changes to an "i". This only happens in the third person forms like he, she, it, or they. Since we are talking about Ella (she), sintió gets the "i". For "I felt", it remains normal: me sentí.
Why is the word se needed before sintió?
We use the reflexive verb sentirse when talking about feeling an emotion or state, like being sad. If you just said Ella sintió, it would mean she physically felt something, like a cold breeze. The se shows she is experiencing an internal emotion.
Why does the sentence use fue (preterite) instead of era (imperfect) for "it was"?
You might expect the imperfect tense era here because it describes a past situation. However, in Spanish, assigning blame is usually treated as a definitive, completed fact rather than a background description. Because of this, fue su culpa is the most natural way to say "it was her fault".
Why isn't there an accent on porque?
When written as one word without an accent, porque means "because". This connects her feeling sad to the reason why. If you write it as two words with an accent (por qué), it means "why" and is mostly used for asking questions.

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